"But Darci," you quizzically query, "What do you mean you're finally telling the world? Weren't you credited in the film?"
The answer to that is a big, fat HAYULL NAW. 😒 When I went to the theater to see the film and breathlessly waited for my name to roll in the end credits of a major film release for the first time..."The Rose" performed by Darci Monet...it was not there. Every other artist's name whose song was used in the film appeared. But not mine.
Nor have I received a single dime of residuals since the film's release. A film that cost $400,000 to make ($100 of which was paid to me the day I recorded the song) ended up grossing over $46 million.
You can marinate with that a sec while I collect myself. I mean, good for Jared Hess! But...yeah. This sort of thing happens every day here to people a hell of a lot more naive than me. 🥺
How this debacle happened and subsequential droppings of multiple balls following is a long and detailed story I won't drone on about here; but I will tell you that it crushed me to watch everyone else's careers catapult to the next level (and even beyond for some) while I continued to show up at my soul-sucking cubicle job day after mind-numbing day. This should've been the break that got me my SAG card and opened the door for a thriving career as a studio singer...the very thing I moved to Los Angeles for and was highly trained, qualified and had the talent to do.
It really, really messed me up emotionally and mentally. I didn't even realize how much so for years and years, as I refused to watch the film again (even though I thought it was hilarious), or if it came up in conversation, I'd redirect to something else as quickly as possible and if I saw it playing on cable (Comedy Central would have 72-hour weekend-long marathons😫), I'd practically break my neck getting to the remote to switch the channel. I removed it from my life as effectively as I could. My close friends were aware, but otherwise...it was a blip on my resume on my website at most.
BUT...a few months ago, after hearing my story, Jesse Koren, a wonderful business coach I've been working with to help me expand my voice coaching studio said to me, "Well...how can you take that narrative back? How can you heal this heartbreak by taking control of the situation?" I said, "I TRIED to take control of it when it happened! I had a lawyer, I filed a complaint with SAG, I did X, I did Y, I..." and he stops me and says, "No. You can't control what anyone else does or the outcome of it. That's an unwinnable game. Stop playing unwinnable games. What is within YOUR control right now?"
I didn't have to percolate on that for long. You see, once in a blue moon, a die hard tot-and-liger lover (IYKYK) would reach out from the blue via my website and say, "Hey...I found out it's actually you singing 'The Rose' in 'Napoleon Dynamite.' Do you have the full song recorded? I'd sure love to have it." (*should be noted that the song does not appear on the officially released soundtrack*) I'd have to say, "No, I'm sorry. We only recorded the little clip we needed." I'd thank them for reaching out and they'd disappear back into the ether from whence they came, a bit disheartened. But them no more than me.
So, THAT made my decision for me as to how I can JOYFULLY take this narrative back, heal from it and let it go.
FINALLY, I've decided to ***CELEBRATE*** the 20th Anniversary of the release of the pop culture juggernaut that is "Napoleon Dynamite" AS WELL AS MY SMALL BUT EFFECTIVE PART IN IT...
I am recording and releasing a FULL VERSION OF "THE ROSE" in early 2024 and by doing so am therefore announcing...
"HEY, WORLD...THAT'S NOT BETTE...
IT WAS ME THE WHOLE TIME!!!"
No longer Darci Monet with the dime-a-dozen sad sack broken dream story but DARCI-EFFIN-MONET WHO WAS BLESSED ENOUGH TO BE A PART OF POP CULTURE HISTORY FOR ALL OF MUTHA-TRUCKIN' TIME!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!! 🥳🎉🍾🥂🎈🎊
I SAID WHAT I SAID!!! 🤪
So...if you've stuck around this long, reading this email while rage-eating your Ben & Jerry's in utter disgust over the greedy capitalist film industry...YOU CAN BE PART OF HELPING ME RIGHT THIS WRONG!!!
HERE'S THE PLAN:
Thanks to dear longtime friends and voice students, recording and mastering costs won't be too excessive...but I really, REALLY want to blitz this out. I'd like to hire a PR team (and I mean a REAL firm with REAL contacts in LEGIT publications and online sources with a REAL Hollywood office address) and that quote for a two month Jan/Feb press campaign is $2,000. All total, I'm looking at about $3000 by mid-December...and because I'm not rich and Los Angeles is a VERY SPENSIVE place to live (more so every cockamamie day)...
Yes, I will need to crowd source this project, which I have dubbed the #ReleasingTheRoseProject. See what I did there? I'm releasing the single AND simultaneously releasing the trauma of this event in my life! I'm reclaiming myself as an artist! I am making music again because it makes me happy to do so and it feeds my soul!
Okay, maybe there's a little "neener neener" to THE BIZ, as well. I ain't above it. 😉
GOAL: $2,500
INCENTIVES: ~All donors receive credit as a patron on the project in all promotional materials PLUS a pre-release download of "The Rose" PLUS downloadable copies of my albums "Fusion" (2009), "My Own Road" (2001) and my Christmas single "December Come Around" (2014). ~Producer credit will go to anyone donating $100 or more, PLUS everything in patron credit package. ~Executive producer credit will go to anyone donating $200 or more, plus an Agapé-Gram for you or a loved one (a personalized video performance of a song of your choosing), PLUS everything in patron credit package. ~A donation of $1000 or more from someone local to Los Angeles will receive executive producer credit, an Agapé-Gram (or two, what the hell!) AND I will perform a private concert at your home for you and your closest friends, PLUS everything in patron credit package. Should a miracle happen and I raise more than my goal (dream big, right?), those funds will be set aside for my NEXT recording projects, details TBA in the new year! DARCI MONET CREDITS HER PEOPLE! FOR OPTIONS.
Any questions or if you have a business or offer a service that can help me accomplish this project, please reply to this email and talk to me. I humbly thank you for supporting me AND the creative arts!
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